Jijamata Udyan Zoo Campaign

The Jijamata Udyan Zoo at Byculla is one of the oldest Zoo in the country. Unfortunately the Zoo is plagued with the history of controversy from chained animals to small and filthy cages with little to no environment enrichment and overpopulation of animals all in violation of Indian laws.

Nearly 8000 visitors (during vacations nearly 30,000) visiting on an average per day. Children being the major population of the visitors.

PETA had been trying to work with the zoo authorities to improve the conditions of the animals on the zoo premises for the past three years but to no avail. PETA wrote countless letters to the authorities in charge of the zoo, to the Government of Maharashtra, to the Central Zoo Authority and to the Animal Welfare Board of India, stating the problems and expressing our willingness to work with the zoo in alleviating these problems. The common problems included –

• Lack of drinking water for the animals in their enclosure.
   
• No enrichment for the animals. The enclosures were more like empty prison cells with an animal locked inside for the rest of his life.
   
• The elephants chained were all the time in their cubicles and you could see them pulling on their chains, swaying to and fro. They looked totally emaciated.
   
• The sizes of the cages were too small.
   
• Security guards were seen sitting in the garden chewing tobacco while the visitors continue to tease the animals.
   
• Either there was overcrowding in the cages or there were single animals. For example the rhino at the zoo has been single for over 22 years.
   
• There were no recreational tools for the animals and they could be seen sitting on the grounds out of boredom or walking listlessly in their enclosures.
   
• Most of the animals showed stereotype behavior such as pacing to and fro, head bobbing, self mutilation etc.
   
• Sick and rescued animals were displayed.
   
• The monkey enclosures had no facilities at all, and the monkeys used to be sitting around listlessly with no place to hide if they wanted to get away from the teasing of the visitors. There was a tyre hanging from the center of the roof but the monkeys had no way to reach this.

All the above are violations under the guidelines set out by the Central zoo authority.

After innumerable exchange of letters the government finally agreed to allow PETA bring much needed reforms

Approximately 200 animals, 54 caretakers and 8000 visitors visiting per day will benefit with PETA's intervention support ed by United Way Mumbai.

Activities Planned :

• Remuneration of the Project Coordinator and 2 Assistants for patrolling at the Zoo
• The training of the caretakers on the habits of the animals in charge
• Enrichment of enclosures for the animals.
• Fencing for the animal enclosures.
• Signboards for animal enclosures.
• Security and monitoring on the entrance of the Zoo
• Improve the living conditions of the animals in the Zoo (proper water level to be maintained, cages for sick animals to be made bigger)

Project Progress :

In 4 months time from March to June, PETA has managed to make a lot of progress :

The Big Cats

• This monsoon, PETA volunteers were shocked to see the lions huddling under a tiny ledge in their enclosure trying to escape the rain. They could not escape to their night shed, since the zookeepers thought it was more important that the animals be seen by the visitors than escape the rain. PETA decided to build tarpaulin shades for the cats in order to give them immediate shelter. The zoo management were shamed and gave in. Now the night shed is open all the time for the cats to be able to take shelter from the rain. The same facility was made available to the leopards and tigers as a result of PETA intervention.
   
• The pond water is now full at all times, and at PETA 's insistence, the internal ceiling and flooring of the lion enclosures were repaired by zoo authorities.
   
• PETA zoo checkers are working to ensure that animals receive timely first-aid care.
   
• The leopards now stretch regally on specially installed elevated resting logs.
   
• Claw logs have also been installed by PETA for the leopards to sharpen their claws on. The logs double as toys for the animals to gnaw on to keep them occupied. This encourages natural behavior in wild cats.
   
• Elevated resting platforms made of bamboo have been put up in one enclosure, and the rest will be done soon. Leopards are arboreal and prefer to sit on elevated perches.

The Elephants

• The elephants, which were chained almost constantly for many years, are much happier today as they are almost always left unrestrained. Now they are only put in chains if they have some injury or if there are no mahouts to handle them.
   
• They now have a pool of water to splash around in, tree branches scattered around their enclosure to play with and cane and Lucerne grass interspersed with their straw so that they can forage. Prior to our improvements, all they had was a barren enclosure.
   
• Tyres and sacks full of coconut husks are toys with which the elephants love to play. One of the best rewards for the volunteers is to see the male elephant  rolling a tyre on his back, letting it roll onto the ground and then running along with it !
   
• Another thing that the elephants now look forward to is their routine scrub baths. It is a wonderful sight to see the elephants enjoying their water bath and the vigorous rub down.
   
• An elephant expert, Dr Jacob Cheeran, was invited by PETA to give the animals a check-up and to advise on recreational tools for them. Thanks to him, the animals' feeding schedule has been revised to ensure that they get healthy, delicious and nutritious food daily.

The Monkeys

• The primate enclosure was among the most appalling enclosures at the facility. Zoo checkers noted that because there was no environmental enrichment, the intelligent, social animals were bored and listless. PETA consulted with a conservational biologist who specialises in the care of captive primates, and today, the formerly listless monkeys are energetically clambering in their hut, foraging for snacks, climbing and swinging from their intricate new ropeway, gnawing at sugarcane and swinging on their new hammock.
   
• Potted plants have been placed around the monkey enclosures to ensure that visitors do not get too close to the primates. Two volunteers are constantly patrolling the four primate enclosures to keep the visitors from harassing the animals.

The Crocodiles

• Water levels in the crocodile enclosure have been increased to provide a better environment for them. However, because of a leakage problem, the water levels do not rise more than 6 inches. PETA is trying to raise funds for the repair work.
   
• Volunteers are ensuring that the pond is cleaned regularly and that the water inlet is on 24 hours a day.

The Porcupines

• Before PETA 's intervention, the porcupines had a barren enclosure with a rock cave, but the entrance to it was blocked by the zoo in order to ensure that the animals could not take shelter inside it and therefore prevent the visitors from gawking at them. However, now the animals are free to scurry in and out of their caves whenever they want to.
   
• All four enclosures are partially filled with sand for the animals to burrow in, which is a part of their natural activity, as they belong to the rodent family.
   
• The enclosure has a severe leakage problem, which is putting the animals at risk of having the ceiling collapse on them. We would like to raise money to fix the roof.

The Bears

• One of the Himalayan bears finally has a pond filled with fresh, clean water in which to bathe, and his enclosure has been opened to give him a larger area in which to roam. Before our intervention, the bored animal spent all his time sitting in the rock crevice in his small cramped enclosure.
   
• The other two Himalayan bears have a larger enclosure with a moat, which was filled with dirty water. When PETA got the water from the moat tested, the results were very alarming. Various pollutants coming from plastic bottles, rubber tires, pipes, etc, were found in the water, and the water test also showed traces of E. coli and toxic components. A copy of the report is attached. The difficulty here is that there is no water outlet in the moat so that all the rainwater that collects starts to stagnate, and the staff of the zoo are lazy and do not clean the water regularly. The moat is now clean, and we are working on enrichment techniques, but this is a short term solution.

The Other Enclosures

• Huge stones in all deer enclosures, which were a hazard to the animals (a situation worsened by the rains), are being removed by PETA volunteers and labourers.
   
• New RCC water troughs have been installed in all the enclosures. The water troughs that were there earlier were made of iron that had corroded and had not been changed in years. As a result of our intervention, the animals now have access to clean drinking water at all times. Earlier, there were instances when they did not have access to any drinking water. For example, on public holidays, the animals would not be given water to drink because the supply of water to their part of the park would have been shut off.
   
• A disabled hyena was removed from public display. As per the Indian Zoo Rules, no disabled or old animal can be displayed. Unfortunately, he is now sitting in a small enclosure in the hospital with no hope.
   
• The hippo, rhino and swan ponds are now being cleaned regularly, and PETA is working on enrichment possibilities.
   
• The rock python who was housed in an extremely small enclosure within the snake house has now been shifted to a bigger, open enclosure with two other pythons.
   
• The enclosures in the snake house are being renovated to replicate the natural habitat of the snakes as far as possible.
   
• The security personnel are much more alert now, and the zoo hospital is also equipped with a first-aid box for emergencies. This came about as a result of PETA 's intervention.
   
• Our zoo checkers are making rounds to ensure that people who feed or stone animals are fined and punished. The zoo caretakers, who earlier used to be seen sitting around on the lawns chewing tobacco and chatting amongst themselves are now being seen to be more pro active in taking care of the animals.

FUTURE PROJECTIONS –

1. Educational programme – Animals at this zoo are teased all the time and the zoo says they do not have enough security guards to control this. The ones present at the zoo are usually seen sitting under a tree chewing tobacco or smoking bidis while the animals continue to be teased and taunted in front of them. The only solution to this problem is to restrict the movement of the visitors and keeping them under strict vigilance. This can only happen if we take visitors inside the zoo in batches guided by a volunteer who would take them around and also tell them about the animals and their habitat. For this we need a large number of volunteers who would work full time at the zoo. There are around 20000 visitors that come in on holidays.
    
2. The water in the crocodile enclosure is very low due to which the backs of these reptiles are always exposed to the sun. The zoo claims that this is due to water leakage from the enclosure. We got an expert water proofer to come here and make an estimate of the cost. We would like to get the water proofing done of the entire enclosure so that this problem is solved and the crocodiles get enough water to be able to go underwater when the stress from the visitors gets to be too much.
    
3. Similarly the water proofing needs to be done for the pond in the elephants enclosure, and the black swan enclosure.
    
4. We would like to enrich the cages of the animals and also renovate them to suite the needs of the animals. For example would like to give the single bear another enclosure with more space and resting caves.
    
5. The snake enclosures need to be enriched. Currently the enclosures are nothing more than cemented glass cages. We would need to chisel out the cement and add pebbles, sand, logs, vegetation etc for these snakes.
    
6. The bird enclosures need to be widened and the birds need to be relocated. Till that, we want to provide bird baths in the enclosures.
    
7. We need to make a large enclosure for the Brahmini kites. We have the cost estimate ready.
    
8. We have got permission to rescue 5 monkeys who have been sitting in tiny cages in the zoo hospital for months now for no fault of theirs. These monkeys are not to be displayed as the zoo had violated all laws and got these monkeys from Borivali National park. These monkeys are now going to be sent to the rescue and rehabilitation center in Pune.
    
9. There is a hobra (cross between a zebra and a horse) who has been languishing in the zoo for almost 20 years. He had been rescued from a circus but because a zoo cannot display a hybrid animal, he has been in an enclosure in the hospital for many years. We have got permission from a rescue center in Bangalore who are willing to accept him. We now need to get permissions from the rest of the authorities.
    
10. The elephant expert who had come down has said that the male elephant, RajKumar, should be removed from the zoo as he is going into musth and will be difficult to control. Musth is a condition in which the bull elephant becomes very aggressive and only a trained mahout can handle him well, if at all. Dr. Cheeran has already commented that the mahouts in the zoo are not trained to the extent they need to be and know only the most simple of commands for the elephants. As a result, they will be unable to take care of Raj Kumar and could end up using force to handle him which will only complicate the situation and bring criticism. Studies show that an elephant in musth usually attacks the mahouts as there is a change of dominance due to excessive secretion of the male hormones. In such cases, if the mahouts use force to handle the elephant, the chances are that the elephant will be agitated and will attack back which can lead to humans being harmed. As elephants never forget, he would then continue to show aggressiveness toward the mahout even after the musth period is over. We are hoping to move the male elephant to a rescue camp.
     
11. There are 45 black bucks who need to be shifted as their enclosure is at present over populated. There is a forest that has been identified and we hope to have them moved soon.